3. Willie Mitchell??

It’s an awkward one-stop reunion tour for Willie Mitchell, who was deemed expendable by Mike Gillis following his severe concussion and took off down the coast to eliminate the Canucks and win the Stanley Cup.

Wonder what his conversations with ex-teammates will sound like?

Really, it will be a homecoming for the local product who deserves that ring after his long career.

4. The start of the inevitable Cory Schneider backlash

I’m joking here but if Schneider gets ventilated by a University squad and the fanbase panics and jumps on the new hotness Eddie Lack, would anyone be seriously surprised?

It means a little bit that Schneider is playing this game and not Roberto Luongo, marking the transition of the leader in the crease, but until this lockout gets solved and Luongo is traded Roberto is still the king, just a lame-duck one.

5. A lot of fun

Let’s face it, hockey in Vancouver is stressful.

Every game is the biggest game of the year, and every reputation is based on the most recent shift.

People complain that Rogers Arena is quiet and I think a factor is pure nerves.

The stakes as Canuck fans have never been higher.

The team is in the middle of their most successful run in franchise history but it’s also been full of heartbreak and anger.

The chance to see some Canucks play a game of shinny with nothing on the line except money for charities sounds really relaxing.

Just a fun time at the rink, which is what hockey used to be all about until we injected billions of dollars into it.